Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
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4766 results found
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A hotkey to make the Free Transform tool only transform fill patterns.
When dragging with the Selection or Direct Selection tools, or using the Rotate, and Scale tools to transform an object, you can hold down ~ to only transform its pattern fill. But the Free Transform tool doesn’t do this. Can we get it to do this?
(As with the Rotate, Scale, and Selection tools, holding down the other modifier keys whole holding down ~ should act as they normally do with the Free Transform tool.)
There is a ‘transform pattern only’ option in the Transform panel’s menu, but that’s a lot of clicks far away from the thing you’re actively working on, plus it doesn’t actually WORK. No, really, try it. Make a fill pattern, draw a shape with it, check 'transform pattern only', and watch the entire object be transformed along with its fill pattern.
(Actually it is the ` key, no need to hold down Shift to get a ~; I just usually refer to it as the ~ because that's easier to distinguish from the '/" key in many fonts.)
When dragging with the Selection or Direct Selection tools, or using the Rotate, and Scale tools to transform an object, you can hold down ~ to only transform its pattern fill. But the Free Transform tool doesn’t do this. Can we get it to do this?
(As with the Rotate, Scale, and Selection tools, holding down the other modifier keys whole holding down ~ should act as they normally do with the Free Transform tool.)
There is a ‘transform pattern only’ option in the Transform panel’s menu, but that’s a lot of clicks far away from the thing you’re actively…
12 votes -
Make Spiral as a live shape, editable after it has been drawn
It could be useful to have an option for adding segments, or changing decay, especially if it serves as a path for text.
12 votes -
Pin a document to Home screen
Have the ability to pin a document to the Home screen
12 votes -
Archimedean Spirals
Surely this should just be a default option for spiral drawing, in the current state of design i would imagine regular spirals would be used far more often than logarithmic, the current way to create them is lengthy and cumbersome.
Hope this makes it!12 votes -
Make raster brushes in Ai work as brushes in Photoshop and Affinity Designer do
I think you should change the brush type and make it as same as the Photoshop, as the brush of Photoshop is much convinient.
Like we can use a soft brush or we can lower the opacity of the brush easily and same with the eraser tool.
Now, Photoshop is raster based software whereas Illustrator is a vector based which is the positive point a for Illustrator.
File made in Illustrator is much more useful and file made in Photoshop is much more on the attractive side.
So we need Illustrator to be easy and convenient to use.
Or else make a new software which will be the combination of both Illustrator as well as Photoshop.I think you should change the brush type and make it as same as the Photoshop, as the brush of Photoshop is much convinient.
Like we can use a soft brush or we can lower the opacity of the brush easily and same with the eraser tool.
Now, Photoshop is raster based software whereas Illustrator is a vector based which is the positive point a for Illustrator.
File made in Illustrator is much more useful and file made in Photoshop is much more on the attractive side.
So we need Illustrator to be easy and convenient to use.
Or else…12 votes -
Quick Apply in Illustrator (and all major Adobe apps)
There’s a neat and extremely useful feature in InDesign called Quick Apply (and I wonder why is it only there). It’s a quick and convenient way to find, select and perform any desired action whose name I know but am unable to find (within myriad of menus and submenus of panel options). Please add the same feature to all major apps.
12 votes -
Global Edit should allow searching within current and chosen artboards
Global Edit have some options to limit searching with artboards and/or canvas... but the choices are rather odd: Portrait, Landscape, Square and All.
It’s strange though we can’t limit it to the current artboard... or some chosen artboards, even though today the selection of artboards on canvas is allowed within the scope of the Artboard tool — but I’ll take the field to put numbers, or selecting artboards in the Artboards panel!
Select > Same and Select > Object commands don’t have these options at all. Must have — here’s the request: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/35752063
11 votes -
Add Transform Again Individually / Transform Sequence Again / Sequence Again Individually commands, as in InDesign
Illustrator has Transform Again command (and it’s rather useful), but InDesign has three additional commands:
Transform Again Individually:
Applies the last single transform operation to each selected object individually, rather than as a group.Transform Sequence Again:
Applies the last sequence of transform operations to the selection.Transform Sequence Again Individually:
Applies the last sequence of transform operations to each selected object individually.
As described here: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/transforming-objects.html#repeat_transformations
Here is a video demonstrating the difference between these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4gLe9LeRKI
Sure, we have Transform Each as a workaround, but it doesn’t support custom pivots as tools do, and these are just faster.
If you like this request, take a look at these two as well:
— Rotate, scale, skew, transform selected objects separately: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/46268581
— Add a Step and Repeat Feature:
http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/39044275Illustrator has Transform Again command (and it’s rather useful), but InDesign has three additional commands:
Transform Again Individually:
Applies the last single transform operation to each selected object individually, rather than as a group.Transform Sequence Again:
Applies the last sequence of transform operations to the selection.Transform Sequence Again Individually:
Applies the last sequence of transform operations to each selected object individually.
As described here: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/transforming-objects.html#repeat_transformations
Here is a video demonstrating the difference between these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4gLe9LeRKI
Sure, we have Transform Each as a workaround, but it doesn’t support custom pivots as tools do, and these are just faster.
If…
11 votes -
True vector blur / feather, similar to one Rive has
Quite recently Rive introduced Vector Feathering: https://rive.app/blog/introducing-vector-feathering
Illustrator uses raster-based Feather and Gaussian Blur, and — let’s admit it — we need them better: resolution-independent, infinitely scalable.
Instead we got just 'faster blur'...And while you are here — there are many more blur-realted requests:
– Motion blur: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/32403883
– Background blur: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/36614008
– Gradient Feather: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/31911052
and more.Stop toying with text-to-raster-then-trace toys!
11 votes -
Allow to color code attributes (fills, strokes, effects) in Appearance Panel
Sometimes we create very complex appearance stacks, and navigating the Appearance panel becomes rather hard (especially given the fact it tries to unfurl the items in it all the time — look at this bug report: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/49257335)
So with a lot of fills and strokes and effects given we would like to assign colors to the rows, the same way the Actions panel allows (for its button mode).
Another similar requests would be an ability to rename them (http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/34309852) and to make folders (http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/49257353)
11 votes -
Oval Radial Repeat
It would be very useful to be able to adjust the radial repeat to an oval radial repeat. Just like how you can change a radial gradient from a circular shape to an oval shape. Opens for lots of more possibilities and will be a huge time saver. Doing this manually is hard.
11 votes -
Clip to key object
Illustrator allows to set a key object in a selection with a click. The object gets thick edge and can be used for aligning and distributing operation, to stay in place.
This simple way of marking an object is used only for these, and it’s a waste.
We need to be able to use key objects for other operations as well.For example, why not allow users to clip into the key object, if it’s set? Currently we would have to move it above other objects in a selection, reselect them together, and hope we didn’t mess it up... or cut the objects we need to clip, select the one to be a mask, toggle Draw Inside mode, Paste in Place (works if we need to save the appearance of the clipping path).
Why just not
1. Select objects
2. Click one to make it a key
3. Run Object > Clipping Mask > Make command (Cmd/Ctrl+7)?
Zero extra steps. No problems with 'should it be at top or bottom'.Illustrator allows to set a key object in a selection with a click. The object gets thick edge and can be used for aligning and distributing operation, to stay in place.
This simple way of marking an object is used only for these, and it’s a waste.
We need to be able to use key objects for other operations as well.For example, why not allow users to clip into the key object, if it’s set? Currently we would have to move it above other objects in a selection, reselect them together, and hope we didn’t mess it up... or…
11 votes -
Display artboard captions when exporting artboards
Every time when i have multiple artboards and hit Save As, Ii don't know exactly which artboards i want to include, cause i don't know the specific number.
So i go back out of the save as dialog, pick the Artboard Tool and save again, now able to see which numbers i want to include. I would be less time consumption if it would show the numbers of the artboards always no matter which tool is selected, when there is a save as or export dialog started.11 votes -
Round Corners effect works wrong with curved paths
The native Round Corners effect (not the corner widget!) can work well only with all-straight segments.
It doesn’t round anything for points connecting straight and curved segments, straightens up curved segments, and hardly fit rounded corners within original paths.This is embarrassing. Fix it!
11 votes -
Live Free Distort effect
I would like to see the "Free Distort" effect be extended to work on the actual object, not going through a tiny dialog box that feels like I'm trying to apply it to a postage stamp. It's really difficult to apply a distorted shape to a larger area when I am guessing if a 1-pixel move of a tiny handle is going to make a difference or not. It would be amazing if four independent handles were on the actual art and allow me to move the corners exactly to the spot I want to place them at. It's a handy tool for the work I'm doing but would make my work much easier if it were more user-friendly. Right now it feels like a feature that is 1994-ish (and yes I was using Illustrator before then - still my favorite app of all time!)
I would like to see the "Free Distort" effect be extended to work on the actual object, not going through a tiny dialog box that feels like I'm trying to apply it to a postage stamp. It's really difficult to apply a distorted shape to a larger area when I am guessing if a 1-pixel move of a tiny handle is going to make a difference or not. It would be amazing if four independent handles were on the actual art and allow me to move the corners exactly to the spot I want to place them at. It's a…
11 votes -
Add Focus Fill and Focus Stroke commands we can assign hotkeys to
Illustrator focuses either a fill or a stroke to be set.
We can control the focus with the hardcoded X key, that toggles fill and stroke, but it also requires to know which is active at the moment to know if we should press it.It’d be faster for professional user to actually force the stroke or the fill to be active, with dedicated absolute keys instead of relative ones.
I’d use something Alt+X and Alt+Shift+X (these are free), or remapped them to something even more simpler.
There is a related request:
Absolute mode that always sets a fill a single click and stroke with the Alt+click/right click
http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/44104935Illustrator focuses either a fill or a stroke to be set.
We can control the focus with the hardcoded X key, that toggles fill and stroke, but it also requires to know which is active at the moment to know if we should press it.It’d be faster for professional user to actually force the stroke or the fill to be active, with dedicated absolute keys instead of relative ones.
I’d use something Alt+X and Alt+Shift+X (these are free), or remapped them to something even more simpler.
There is a related request:
Absolute mode that always sets a fill a…11 votes -
Allow to make sharp transitions using Width Tool
Width Tool allows us to set width markers on a path, to make its stroke’s outline blend between set cross-sections. We have some limited controls over these markers, we can make each side have its own width, we can snap them to points, but that’s it.
What we also need is way to make this transitions sharp, rather than smooth.
Look at the image attached.The path on the top is a stroke with a variable stroke profile.
The path on the bottom is a demonstration of what we want (an art brush actually).Sure, we can fake this behavior duplicating an existing marker close the the original (fighting the Ai’s urge to merge them). But if we expand these, this fake sharp transition generates a ton of points we don’t need, and it’s not actually a sharp point at all.
At the meantime, Ai has the Curvature tool, that allows to quickly toggle sharp/smooth for points with a double-click or Ot/Alt-click. Double click for Width tool opens Width Point Edit dialog, but Opt/Alt does nothing — make it toggle the transition type.
At the moment we have to build strokes like this with art brushes, which can’t be edited interactively on canvas, it’s a trial and error process. Adding sharp transitions to the Width Tool will make it much easier.
Width Tool allows us to set width markers on a path, to make its stroke’s outline blend between set cross-sections. We have some limited controls over these markers, we can make each side have its own width, we can snap them to points, but that’s it.
What we also need is way to make this transitions sharp, rather than smooth.
Look at the image attached.The path on the top is a stroke with a variable stroke profile.
The path on the bottom is a demonstration of what we want (an art brush actually).Sure, we can fake this behavior…
11 votes -
Change the cursor for Artboard Tool when a click is going to create a new object-sized artboard
When using Artboard Tool, you can do several things with a simple click.
1. Select an artboard under the cursor
2. Deselect an artboard if there is no artboards under the cursor
3. Create an artboard which size is the same as the object you click — but ONLY if the object is inside of the already selected artboard OR if the place you click is not inside of any artboard.This #3 case prevents deselecting artboards efficiently in cases when you don’t have 'naked canvas' inside of the viewport. And clicking is the only way to deselect artboards, since Deselect All command does not conform the mode — you can see details and upvote the problem here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/47070349
And because of that (and not only that), we need Ai to signal a click is going to create an artboard. Ai should modify the cursor to indicate this — and now it does not, AT ALL.
When using Artboard Tool, you can do several things with a simple click.
1. Select an artboard under the cursor
2. Deselect an artboard if there is no artboards under the cursor
3. Create an artboard which size is the same as the object you click — but ONLY if the object is inside of the already selected artboard OR if the place you click is not inside of any artboard.This #3 case prevents deselecting artboards efficiently in cases when you don’t have 'naked canvas' inside of the viewport. And clicking is the only way to deselect artboards, since…
11 votes -
Buttons in Pathfinder panel should be disabled when nothing is selected
If you have nothing selected, Pathfinder still have all buttons active, despite clicking one will give out an error message.
What’s a point? Why shout? Why not display a shallow message (like the one we get when a live shape gets expanded)?
Why not disable the buttons in the first place when a selection is empty?11 votes -
Show 'Can’t join a path' message as a soft one
Modal dialogs are very dated. They grab attention, they interrupt workflows, they yell at you. Most times we don’t need these as loud as they are — a whisper is nice.
And Ai actually now has these, 'soft' messages, like the one we get when we modify a live shape — 'Shape expanded', at the top of the view, in a gray rectangle. Calm, non-intrusive, with auto-destruction timer. Nice!But there are other, legacy warnings and screams.
The most annoying for me persoanlly is the one I get when I try to join a closed path (just in case, to be sure it is closed), but Ai yells at me — 'you caaaaan't' — with a ding and a message and a text... just show the 'Path is already closed' soft message.Perhaps don’t mix all the cases together and display it as a huge page like you do. A user has a compound path within the selection? Tell it, and only if the user really has it. Same for other art types users can’t join.
I see an educational benefit in having it like this now... but look, if I enable 'don’t show this again' checkmark in this alert box, I won’t be able to see if I should join more or is it just enough.Modal dialogs are very dated. They grab attention, they interrupt workflows, they yell at you. Most times we don’t need these as loud as they are — a whisper is nice.
And Ai actually now has these, 'soft' messages, like the one we get when we modify a live shape — 'Shape expanded', at the top of the view, in a gray rectangle. Calm, non-intrusive, with auto-destruction timer. Nice!But there are other, legacy warnings and screams.
The most annoying for me persoanlly is the one I get when I try to join a closed path (just in case, to…11 votes
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